Cars that never need gas. Maybe our tax dollars should be going to solar, wind, and other alternative energy companies than to the major oil companies

>>There are hybrids. There are electric cars that plug into a wall and get their juice from whatever mix the electric company is offering. And then there are electic cars that are charged by solar panels on the roof of one's house. They never need gas, and the power is free after the set-up cost . . .

. . . Asked how long it will take for the PV system to pay for itself, Dickey replies: ". . . the instant I turned my system on." Dickey had been paying $75 a month for electricity. He took a loan out to buy the PV system, and pays $70 a month toward that loan. "My electricity and gasoline bills are now zero, and next year when my loan is paid off, this investment will be paying me probably for the rest of my life. My PV system covers the power for my home and my car. It displaces $90 worth of electricity and over $100 worth of gasoline every month. So my estimate of how long until the system pays for itself is no time at all!"<<

Tax me more! Instead of asking for more road taxes, perhaps, you should be asking for no tax on electric cars and lower taxes on gasoline. The day politicians figure out how to tax electric cars, is the day that same tax will be applied to the dirty, filthy, killing us all gasoline vehicles.

I have always been in favor of the government doing things to promote energy independence from foreign sources. This included helping develop cars that did not run on foreign oil/gasoline.

However, there comes a point where the technology has matured to the point that it is commercially viable and can support itself. At that point, the government should bow out and let the free market competition determine the winners and losers -- instead of the government doing it.

The question is -- have we yet reached the point where alternative energy is commercially viable on its own?

Oil pan 4's tow and charge service will be up and running soon.Got the 7kw genset, its ready to go and the 18ft long 3 ton trailer is almost done.Electric car buying fools deserve to be parted from the rest of their money.

"Wrong answer speedy. The Prius never received a $7500 handout from the taxpyer upon purchase,.... "

But, the Prius did fall under a program for tax credits and long vefore the Volt came on the scene. Furthermore, the Prius plug is under the same tax category as the Volt. Prius Tax Credit

It's amusing, shockjock, you refer to tax credits as a "handout from the taxpyr" as if it were your money. It's a reasonable bet that someone buying a $60,000 to $100,000 car is paying more than the average person in taxes, even with the tax credit.

I think that the more we can do to become energy independent and not reliant on foreign oil is not only good economically but good for national security.

My next car will probably be a Toyota Prius, Ford C-Max, or other hybrid.

However, I do not believe the government should provide tax breaks, subsidies, or spend any money to promote or hinder the industry.

Simply allow market forces to work.

If hybrids and/or all electrics make sense they will prosper without government intervention. If they really do make sense, then the government should consider buying some for government transportation use, perhaps even military use.

The big difference between the prius and any tesla product is the prius is actually affordable and usually doenst come with a huge tax payer hand out.Where the tesla has the huge tax payer hand out and still isnt affordable. Any one that buys there stock above $240/share will learn a fool and money are soon parted.

"I guess this topic is now a dead issue since it is my understanding all of the government tax credits for electric vehicles expired on December 31, 2013."

As usual speedy, you are wrong.

"The qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicle credit phases out for a manufacturer’s vehicles over the one-year period beginning with the second calendar quarter after the calendar quarter in which at least 200,000 qualifying vehicles manufactured by that manufacturer have been sold for use in the United States (determined on a cumulative basis for sales after December 31, 2009)"

The handout will continue for some time in order to reach the 200,000 sold mile marker...

>>So what makes the Supercharger such an engineering feat, deserving of such an intense name? For one, it charges a ModelS 20 times faster than most public charging stations: 80 percent of the car’s charge can be had in 40 minutes.<<

No, I don't want the government spending one penny of my tax dollars encouraging coal-powered [electric] cars. Our grid system is badly in need of maintenance and is near capacity. Pointless to waste money encouraging people to further strain it.

"What appears impossibly to many is simple to some. It's just a matter of having the skill and desire to develop those ideas."

No, accomplishing some things IS impossible. What seems simple to some, others are smart enough to know cannot be done; if it seems simple to you, but nobody else thinks so, you're probably missing something important. Other ideas are technologically feasible, but are not economically feasible, and have no chance of becoming economically feasible in the near future. Spending time and effort attempting things that violate the laws of physics is a wasting that time and money. Developing technologies that are not economically feasible is also a waste.

"Sure, but do you know how big and how many more generators you would need in a base camp to be able to provide enough power to recharge a motor pool of vehicles?"

The bases I have been to that generate their own power could handle some electric vehciles being plugged in.The generator system I set up at my tent city were utlized at between 10% and no more than 60% capacity.All that power was generated with diesel. So what would be the point of going electric? Its cheaper just to bring a diesel gator from home or go into town and buy a diesel toyota pickup.

That has to be the dumbest thing you've said, SoylentGrain. Of course there are limits to what can be accomplished; the laws of physics apply, whether you want them to or not, and they place limitations on everything we build. Energy density for batteries, in particular, has limits, which is the one that EVs are running up against.

I am surprised by the skepticism over the future of electric vehicles given the progress we have seen over the last ten years. Batteries have become more powerful, lighter and cheaper. Performance has improved greatly. We are seeing more and more manufacturers produce electric/hybrid vehicles. Some even have racing car performance. And this is just the first ten years. We can expect even better in the next generation. Past failures with old technology does not necessarily predict outcomes for newer technology. If that were the case all the failures in attempting to build flying machines would have always failed -- but today it is commonplace to fly. I believe that this is one technology that has actually reached a mature enough level to make a good business case where investments will yield success in the near future. By the way, I was a logistics officer in the U.S. Army and later a civilian in the Defense Energy Suppy Center (the part of the Defense Logistics Agency that supplies fuel to the DoD military services) and every unit in the U.S. Army carries generators and tents for their base camps.